20,500 energy efficient lightbulbs installed in Canberra

miz said :

Exactly, bikhet. The dude said it was about enabling ACTEW to make some kind of carbon reduction claim. In other words, any benefit to the consumer from this program is secondary.

It’s allowing them to meet their requirements under the government’s new energy efficiency law.
http://www.environment.act.gov.au/energy/energy_efficiency_improvement_scheme_eeis

I don’t think they could give a flying f**k if it does anything for the consumer (although it should).

Exactly, bikhet. The dude said it was about enabling ACTEW to make some kind of carbon reduction claim. In other words, any benefit to the consumer from this program is secondary.

I’ve given up on the compact fluros, not bright enough for work areas and they burn out way too often in my heritage flat dish light fittings.
Halogen bulbs give me a true 100w equivalent and actually last.
Wish I’d been aware of them earlier.

miz said :

Though I am not sure how $7 per light bulb can be justified when incandescent bulbs are only about 20c each, and my leccy bills are not high.

Any cost can be justified when you’re using someone else’s money.

chewy14 said :

There was only one guy when they came to my house, but I’m sure they can organise for a number of these people in a team to attend different houses at the same time. Amazing, I know.

That is pretty amazing, but in that case I’d expect the original post to read something like “…I was amazed when [a member of] the Energy Efficiency team did a house-call at my home…“

I also got a device to switch off standby devices, but I have unplugged it as it keeps switching off my telly after one hour – usually right at the end of the show. Very annoying.
Happy with the new light bulbs – I had not changed some because I was under the impression you had to have open light fittings. They reckon not. Though I am not sure how $7 per light bulb can be justified when incandescent bulbs are only about 20c each, and my leccy bills are not high.

gooterz said :

Incandescents are 100% efficient in Canberra winters.

Energy savers don’t last as long and need more energy to produce, and contain harmful amounts of mercury.
The mercury is fine till you break a bulb while the lights on.

Still its all free and billed to all the other rate payers.

http://www.designrecycleinc.com/led%20comp%20chart.html

LED lights last for 50000 hours, use half the power emit 1/10 th the heat, turn on instantly, don’t buzz and don’t contain toxic mercury.

I think you might find that “100% efficient” for lighting might mean all energy consumed produces light, without wastage, including through heat. Given you live closer to the floor than the ceiling, extra heat emitted from lighting up high (not to mention leaking into the roofspace) is not that helpful, even in winter.

I’m not sure where you get your other claims from. LED’s are good and getting better, but that doesn’t mean incandescents are a better choice than compact fluorescents.

Yes, there is mercury in a compact fluoro, but the bulk of it is bound in powder and not going to be released by breaking a bulb. The quantities are tiny as well. There is also recycling available for mercury containing lamps, such as through the Fluorocycle scheme run by the Lighting Council.

I’d be more concerned about mercury exposure from the food chain and from stack emissions at coal-fired power plants and crematoria, myself.

I cannot believe no one has yet asked this. How many ActewAGL guys does it take to change 20,500 lighbulbs?

Dad joke…

Incandescents are 100% efficient in Canberra winters.

Energy savers don’t last as long and need more energy to produce, and contain harmful amounts of mercury.
The mercury is fine till you break a bulb while the lights on.

Still its all free and billed to all the other rate payers.

http://www.designrecycleinc.com/led%20comp%20chart.html

LED lights last for 50000 hours, use half the power emit 1/10 th the heat, turn on instantly, don’t buzz and don’t contain toxic mercury.

tim_c said :

So, with that many light bulbs changed, surely by now Actew must have noticed a reduction in the overall demand for electricity in the ACT…. or have they just found out what the rest of us (excluding Earth Hour observers) already knew: that lighting accounts for only a very minor proportion of total energy used?

I was amazed when the Energy Efficiency team did a house-call at my home and found 11 old light bulbs that needed replacing.

Really, a whole team?! So just how many Energy Efficiency ‘experts’ does it take to change 11 old light bulbs?! And how efficient are they really if a whole team is required?!

Household energy consumption data for Australia suggests lighting is about 14% of household use (BREE, 2009-10 data). Lighting makes up the biggest share of ‘appliance’ energy consumption in households, and lighting is the biggest component of that overall ‘appliances’ category. Appliances, then space heating, then water heating are the three biggest household energy end uses.

‘Residential’ end use is about 11% of all final energy demand for Australia (3rd or 4th largest energy using sector).

So addressing the energy efficiency of household lighting is a pretty sensible thing to do, given it can be done for a fairly low cost and little or no impact on amenity.